Probably every
town and city in the United Kingdom has examples of buildings
or monuments made from British granite. As one of the most distinctive
of building stones, granite has long been prized for its strength
and durability as well as its attractive appearance. Few stone
types have been used for such a wide range of purposes, from structural
and engineering foundations to decorative building interiors.
As a material seen to represent prestige and solidity it was particularly
favoured in Victorian times for commercial buildings such as banks,
offices and entranceways to major ecclesiastical and public buildings. Granite was
quarried in all corners of the British Isles, initially from coastal
locations and transported by sea to the major urban centres. The
UK was once a major producer of granite, particularly in the 19th
century, and it was exported abroad to Europe, America and Australasia.
The large variety of textures and colours present in British granite
reflects the range of geological ages and compositional variation
of granite throughout the United Kingdom.

The granite quarrying
industry in Britain developed from the late 18th century. The
principal areas of production were Aberdeenshire, Kirkcudbrightshire
(southwest Scotland), Devon and Cornwall, Ross of Mull and Shap
in Cumbria. Many other smaller scale quarries operated in other
areas, generally supplying more local or regional needs.

THE ORIGIN
OF GRANITE

In the British
Isles, intrusions of granite and related igneous rocks are present
in a variety of localities, and range widely in geological age
and origin. Differences in mineral composition and conditions
of emplacement mean that British granites show a wide range of
colours and textures.

Granite forms from the cooling of large
magma bodies at depth in the crust, the slow cooling allowing
the growth of large and interlocking mineral crystals. Compositionally,
granites typically contain 55-75% silica and are commonly pale
coloured with medium to coarse grained crystals discernable to
the naked eye. The interlocking crystals provide cohesion which
adds strength and makes them suitable for polishing without plucking
of the grains. Finer grained granites were typically used for
structural purposes (e.g. foundations, walling, kerbstones, setts
and paving), while coarser grained and porphyritic (i.e. with
large crystals usually of feldspar) varieties were valued for
ornamental work. The predominance of silica and other relatively
stable minerals in granite make it particularly strong and durable.

GRANITE
IN SOUTHWEST ENGLAND

The principal
granite quarries in England were in Devon and Cornwall, with several
quarries in each of the five separate intrusive granite masses
which form a chain across the Devon and Cornwall peninsula. Production
was in its heyday in the 19th century, centred on the Dartmoor
(Haytor quarry), Bodmin (Cheesewring and De Lank quarries), St
Austell (Luxullian quarry), Penryn (Carnsew & Penryn quarries)
and Penzance areas. Most have a light grey colour and are typically
coarse-grained and porphyritic with both grey and pink feldspar
varieties. Granite has
been used for buildings and monuments in Devon and Cornwall from
prehistoric times. Significant quarrying began in the 18th century,
an early example being the use of De Lank granite from Bodmin,
Cornwall for the Eddystone Lighthouse in 1756 and the Beachy Head
Lighthouse in 1828. In London, Dartmoor granite was used for Waterloo
Bridge in 1817, and for the construction of London Bridge in 1831
(Princetown granite) and again for its widening in 1902. A light
grey medium grained biotite granite from Merrivale, Devonshire
was used for the retaining river embankments for the Houses of
Parliament in 1840.

The introduction of steam ships stimulated
the Cornish granite industry from about 1840, with large quantities
used to build docks throughout southern England, and from this
time these granites were used extensively in London for numerous
monuments, buildings and many of the 19th century commercial dock
schemes and bridges. Examples include Nelson's Column (Foggintor
granite) and Tower Bridge (Cheeswring granite), construction of
the Thames Embankment (1865 to 1885) and the Thames bridges at
Putney, Kew, Vauxhall, Blackfriars, Tower Bridge and Blackwall
Tunnel.

OTHER
ENGLISH GRANITES

Shap, Cumbria. Despite the relatively small size of the granite intrusion at
Shap it has had major commercial success as a decorative building
stone. Its coarse porphyritic nature with conspicuous pink tabular
feldspar crystals makes it one of the most readily identifiable
granites. It has been widely used for monumental work throughout
the UK and polished columns of pink Shap granite can be seen in
most UK cities (e.g. entrance pillars to St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh).
Shap granite was particularly favoured in London as a polished
decorative stone and examples can be seen in the entrance to St
Pancras Station, parts of St Paul's Cathedral, and the Prince
Albert Memorial.

Mountsorrel,
Leicestershire. A
variable suite of igneous rocks in Charnwood and adjacent areas,
termed 'granites' by the stone trade, have been exploited as building
stones mostly for local use. In south Charnwood, coarse-grained,
purple and green mottled diorites have been quarried at Groby
and Markfield and are readily identified in buildings in and around
the district. In north Charnwood the pink to grey Mountsorrel
granodiorite was used for kerbstones and setts which were exported
to cities and towns across the country from the early 19th century.
As a hard and intractable stone, it was also commonly used as
large irregular rubble stone blocks in the walls and houses of
older buildings in villages near the quarries. In the 19th century,
numerous local churches and houses were constructed or 'restored'
using large blocks of dark red Mountsorrel granodiorite. Stone
is still quarried at Mountsorrel, although it is mostly crushed
for aggregate.

GRANITE
IN SCOTLAND

Scotland has
a relatively large number of granite intrusions, ranging widely
in composition and geological age, with stone from the different
regions having different characteristics, for example the silver
grey granites of Galloway, the deep reds of Ross of Mull and Peterhead,
and the salmon pink of Corrennie in Aberdeenshire. The city of
Aberdeen, known as 'the granite city' is built extensively of
silver-grey granite from quarries within and around the city.
Many quarries have been used to provide a local building material,
but in several areas they were exploited on a larger scale for
export.

Aberdeenshire
granite. The Aberdeen granite industry developed from the
18th century, with stone first sent to London for paving in 1764
and the construction of Portsmouth docks a few decades later.
Through the 19th century the industry expanded and the area became
a world-renowned producer of granite. The industry was of huge
importance to the local economy, and materials and skills were
so plentiful that much of the city of Aberdeen was constructed
from granite. A relatively sophisticated transportation system
(canal and railways) allowed material from quarries further inland
to be transported to the coast, and the stone was exported in
great quantities to the main urban centres. There were
many granite quarries in Aberdeenshire, producing stone of varying
colour and texture, and exploited for a wide variety of uses.
A number of the major quarries are described below.

Rubislaw quarry
in Aberdeen reached over 90 metres deep, and was known as 'the
deepest hole in Europe'. It opened in 1741 and, along with several
other quarries in and around the city, produced a grey muscovite-biotite
granite extensively used for building in Aberdeen and also widely
exported (e.g. Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1806, Waterloo Bridge in
London 1817 with other granites).

Peterhead, one of the most important
Aberdeenshire granites, was produced as two varieties, known as
Red and Blue Peterhead, both exported throughout the UK and abroad
during the 19th century. The red variety was better known and
used for ornamental construction and monumental work e.g. London,
Cambridge (St John's College Chapel pillars) and Liverpool (St
George's Hall pillars). Blue Peterhead was used for decorative
building and ornamental work, e.g. the base of fountains in Trafalgar
Square and the Prince Albert Mausoleum. Peterhead granite is still quarried at Stirlinghill and Longhaven quarries,
where it is mostly crushed for aggregate.

Kemnay quarry began
production in the mid-19th century producing building stone, setts
and kerbs, with the best material reserved for polished monumental
work. It is a light grey muscovite-biotite granite. Examples include
the Queen Victoria Memorial in London, the Forth Railway Bridge and, more recently, as cladding for the new Scottish Parliament.

Corrennie is a medium grained biotite granite with a salmon-red
colour making it favoured for decorative use. Examples include
the Glasgow City Chambers and the Tay Railway Bridge. The
light grey speckled muscovite-biotite granite from Dancing Cairns
quarry has been used in Trafalgar Square, the Thames Embankment
and part of London Bridge. Fine-grained dark greyish-blue biotite
granite from Dyce quarry was favoured for the interior of London
banks and exported overseas to Australia (Bank of Australia, Melbourne).
Both Kemnay and Corrennie quarries are still active, along with
a number of other granite quarries in Aberdeenshire, but their granites are mostly
crushed for aggregate and roadstone, although dimension stone
can still be obtained.

Galloway
granites. The granitic rocks of the Criffel intrusive mass
of southwest Scotland were extensively worked in a number of quarries
at Creetown and Dalbeattie. The stone is typically grey (known
as 'silver-grey') with pinkish feldspar. From the 1820s large
quantities of stone were transported by sea for major dock and
bridge works, for example at Liverpool and Swansea. Later it was
worked for dimension stone, setts, kerbs and monumental use. At
one time, the polished Dalbeattie stone was favoured in London
for ground floors to buildings. The granite was extensively used
for buildings throughout the local district around the quarries,
and is seen today in villages and towns throughout the area. The
Dalbeattie quarries today produce mostly crushed rock aggregate.

Scottish
Highlands (Ross of Mull). A number of granite quarries operated
throughout the Scottish Highlands, most supplying local stone,
with a few larger scale quarries mostly producing setts and kerbstones
transported by sea southwards to the main urban centres. By far
the most important of these was Tormore quarry (Ross of Mull granite),
which gained a substantial reputation and was used throughout
the UK and beyond. The stone is an attractive coarse-grained reddish-brown
colour and was used as decorative columns and ornamental stone
for the construction of Glasgow University (1865), and in London,
Manchester, Liverpool and as far away as New Zealand. It was said
to have produced the largest granite blocks in the UK at over
16 metres long, with 5 metre blocks shipped to the US. Its northern
coastal location made it suitable for lighthouse construction
(e.g. Skerryvore, Ardnamurchan, Dhu Hartach and Hyskeir lighthouses)
and its structural qualities were utilised for the Blackfriars,
Westminster, and Holburn Viaduct bridges in London, and the Jamaica
and Kirklee bridges in Glasgow. The quarry was reopened for a
time in the 1990s and still has reserves of stone.

WALES

Granitic rocks
in north Wales have long been exploited for building and decorative
purposes. The principal sources of granite are the outcrops at
Trefor and at Nanhoron on the Lleyn peninsular in Gwynedd. The
Trefor granite is fine to medium grey granite (microgranodiorite),
principally used for local walling stone, but also provides a
hard stone used in the production of curling stones. Nanhoron
granite is also fine grained, grey-brown in colour, and mainly
used as a decorative stone. Stone from the Llanbedrog quarries
in Caernarvonshire have been used for structural and engineering
use, in particular the building of docks. Setts for paving were
produced from the Graig Llwyd quarry near Penmaenmawr in North
Wales.

CHANNEL
ISLANDS

Hornblende
granite from Guernsey, noted for being hard and fine-grained,
was transported to London from the 1820s for roadmaking and
paving, and used for construction of the Thames Embankment in
the second half of the 19th century. Jersey supplied a coarser
grained pink tinted granite, with stone from the La Moie quarries
near St Helier used for the construction of Chatham Docks.

IRELAND

There are
a number of granite intrusions throughout Ireland, with early
quarrying taking place at the Dalkey quarries near Dublin from
1680. Some granite was exported to London for paving, and grey
Wexford granite from Carnsore Point and Killiney Hill was used
for construction of parts of the Thames Embankment. Pinkish grey
Newry granite (Castlewellan and Glenville quarries) was used for
structural work throughout Ireland, and selected for the base
and pedestal of the Albert Memorial (1864-76), and provided setts
for Belfast. Stone from the Ballyknockan quarries in Wicklow were
used for the construction of Trinity College Dublin in 1832 and
the museums in 1889. In Galway, the Shantallow and Barna quarries
produced a pink to grey granite for building and monumental use,
and provided setts for Dublin.

THE
FUTURE FOR BRITISH GRANITE

Today, almost
all production of granite dimension stone in the UK has ceased,
although many of the original quarries are still open, largely
producing crushed rock aggregate, roadstone and other bulk products.
There are 52 quarries currently working granitic rocks, some of
which provide dimension stone for specific projects, and several
quarries retain stockpiles of large block specifically for this
purpose. In recent years there has been a resurgence in the use
of granite, particularly for decorative interiors and cladding.
However, most of the granite used now in the UK is imported from
overseas.

The enduring quality of British granite is evident from
the numerous buildings, structures and monuments throughout the
country built from granites showing a rich variety of colours
and textures. Many of these are now well over a century old. That they
have not diminished with time testifies to the quality of the
material and its role as a world-class building material.

Recommended
Reading

JGC Anderson, The Granites of Scotland, Special reports on the
mineral resources of Great Britain, 32, HMSO, Edinburgh, 1939

British Geological
Survey, Building Stone Resources Map of the United Kingdom, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, 2001

W Diack,
'Rise and progress of the granite industry of Aberdeen', The
Quarry Managers' Journal, April 1941-February 1942

JV Elsden
and JA Howe, The Stones of London: A Descriptive Guide
to the Principal Stones Used in London, Colliery Guardian Co
Ltd, London, 1923